The prophet of democracy brought in from the wilderness

Natan Sharansky tells Martin Ivens his time has come as America adopts his strategy for Middle East reform

That a prophet goes without honour in his own land is hardly surprising. But Natan Sharansky has managed to achieve a rarer feat — two homelands have rejected him.

His native Soviet Union sent him to the gulag for nine years by way of the torture cells of Moscow’s Lefortovo prison for demanding freedom. His adoptive Israel celebrated his release and arrival in the promised land with a wave of national rejoicing. Then, for demanding freedom for the Arabs, it ignored him.

But he is not without friends in high places. Sharansky’s book, The Case for Democracy, became bedside reading for President George W Bush. It inspired the clarion call for democracy in the Middle East that Bush made in his second inaugural address. “That thinking, that’s part of my presidential DNA,” said Bush.

The admiration is mutual. “I was sorry (Andrei) Sakharov was not alive to hear it”, Sharansky rasps